Where's the sea gone, Mabel?

As soon as I woke this morning and saw the light in the patio, I knew the forecast calima had arrived. An apocalyptic yellow glow. We get these at home sometimes, but I've never seen one as heavy as this. Every surface had been covered in a thick layer of dust overnight, and there were drifts of it on the roads. Going into town for Spanish class, I noted that almost everyone had reverted to wearing masks in the street. Fifi, who is from Almuñecar, said she'd never seen one quite like it. And there's more forecast for tomorrow :( Extra: the beach this afternoon (features that building).

After class, I walked into town to meet C for coffee. We haven't seen each other for close to two years and it was lovely to meet again and catch up with news, of which C had a lot, as she's sold her house in France, bought one here, and met a new partner. We sat outside Seiva over a single coffee each for at least an hour, and when it started raining mud we retreated inside, ordered another coffee each, and blethered on for another hour. Halfway through this, a young woman who'd been sitting alone at a nearby table got up to leave and said to us, "I've paid for your coffees, ladies!" We gaped at her. "But why?" "Just because I could," she smiled. Was our conversation that entertaining? It was a very sweet gesture.

C and I saw each other again later in the day as we both went to Salobreña for the weekly film in English -- Spielberg's West Side Story this week. I'm not in the habit of going to musicals, and I did find it a bit slow-moving (two and a half hours!) as they had to keep stopping to do musical numbers. I found Tony and Maria a bit too slick, but the cinematography was excellent, especially for the big dance routines. My favourite character was gorgeous Ariana Debose as Anita, though I also liked the cameo by Rita Moreno, the Anita of the original film.

I drove home in the dark with foglights on and gobbets of raining mud smearing the windscreen. I noticed it was windy, which it hasn't been all day ... sadly, I think it may just be bringing more dust. I could feel the sand between my teeth, and the thermometer read 22C ... at 8 pm.